Nowadays, society and consumers have become sensitive to environmental issues and are interested in them. Stakeholders pay great attention to the performance of organizations in this regard, to the extent that almost all industries are involved in environmental protection activities (Ling & Liu, 2023). Education for sustainability is a complex concept that encompasses various aspects such as awareness of sustainable development issues, active participation in decision-making, knowledge development, skills, concepts, and values to empower people of all ages for sustainable futures (Mondragon et al, 2023).
One way to avoid environmental damage is to change human behavior towards environmentally friendly behavior (Begum et al, 2022). Environmental Behaviors (EB) have long been considered an important ethical issue (Collado et al, 2019). Currently, human environmental behaviors are recognized as one of the most influential factors in the environment (Geng et al, 2023). Similarly, employees' behavior is considered the main factor in the successful adaptation of organizations to the environment (Blasco-Giner et al, 2023). Therefore, any scientific effort to understand, predict, and promote environmental behaviors necessary (Lange, 2019). Consequently, explaining individuals' behavior towards the environment is an important subject (Loizeau et al, 2023).
One effective way to preserve the environment is through green innovation. Green innovation is defined as the development of new or advanced methods, processes, techniques, systems, and products to reduce or prevent environmental damage (Serrano-García et al, 2023). Nowadays, green innovation has become an important tool for businesses to increase their market share and remain sustainable in the long term. Successful green innovation improves market position, attracts customers, provides green services, and gains a competitive advantage (Gilal et al, 2019).
The primary goal of green innovation is to empower organizations to meet the new needs of consumers, create value, and enhance performance in the field of innovation while protecting the environment (Soewarno et al, 2019). When organizations develop green innovation strategies in their operations, managers and internal stakeholders integrate human resources to reduce the risks of production processes and their environmental impacts (Huang et al, 2022).
In this regard, Human Resource Management (HRM) can facilitate the successful implementation of environmental management by aligning practices such as selection, performance evaluation, and training with environmental objectives (Rajabpour et al, 2022). Green Human Resource Management (GHRM) refers to the use of policies, philosophies, and HR practices within the organizational business context to promote sustainable resource utilization and prevent environmental damage (Shahzad et al, 2023). Organizational policies and strategies are implemented through their managers. Therefore, a GHR approach, coupled with a strategic green focus, becomes a motivational factor for managers to demonstrate a transformative green leadership style. Thus, transformative green leadership is considered a vital tool in the organizational environmental management system (Niazi et al, 2023).
Transformative green leadership is defined as a leadership style that motivates followers to pursue environmental goals and inspires them to go beyond expectations in terms of green performance and behavior (Du & Yan, 2022). One influential variable in improving the performance and survival of organizations is innovation, and transformative leadership behavior plays a significant role in enhancing innovation among employees (Wu et al, 2022). Green transformative leadership (GTL) fosters creativity in employees while promoting green innovation through human resource management (Niazi et al, 2023).
The current environmental crisis is caused by a lack of knowledge and awareness among humans in managing the environment sustainably (Ahmed et al, 2023). Alongside the increase in destructive EBs, the risks and impacts resulting from them have also escalated. As the severity and significance of threats against Earth's resources, natural systems, and the global population have become more apparent, the need for comprehensive and widespread education of individuals regarding their responsibility towards the environment has become more pronounced (Azadkhani et al, 2018). Among the strategies for achieving sustainable development, the precise implementation of environmental policies and their proper management is crucial. However, the implementation of environmental policies and regulations without the knowledge and awareness that environmental education provides will not be feasible (Abdul-Halim et al, 2021). Therefore, possessing a high level of environmental awareness and knowledge is an indicator of readiness for a better understanding of the environment, developing an environmental conservation culture, and transferring this culture to younger generations (Mengi Çelik et al, 2022). Knowledge-based educational programs enhance the skills of personnel, which can encourage employees in various industries related to the environment to engage in continuous training and successful operations. Environmental Knowledge (EK) encompasses the processes of discovery, collection, production, implementation, and increasing competitiveness as an innovative strategy (Sidra et al, 2022).
GHRM and GIP
GHRM is an interdisciplinary field that has emerged to align human resource management practices with organizational environmental sustainability goals (Yu et al., 2020). GHRM is defined as a phenomenon that relates to understanding the relationships between organizational activities that impact the natural environment and the design, evaluation, implementation, and integration of human resource management systems (Ren et al., 2018). GHRM has a positive and significant impact on EBand performance within organizations (Cabral & Jabbour, 2019).
Green innovation refers to an organization's inclination to adopt innovations in products or processes that help the organization achieve a high level of environmental sustainability. Green innovation is a tool for producing new products that have minimal adverse effects on the environment throughout their life cycle. Understanding the factors that drive organizations to adopt green innovation is crucial because it enables a particular organization to differentiate itself from competitors, leading to increased competitive advantages (Abbas et al., 2022). Studies indicate that organizations with green innovation are highly successful and outperform their competitors. By utilizing their green resources and capabilities to respond quickly and appropriately to customer needs, they add value and intangible assets to the organization (Wang & Liu et al., 2022). GHRM practices positively influence green innovation within organizations (Sing et al., 2020).
Research has shown that green transformative leadership, GHRM, and green innovation have a significant impact on sustainable business performance (Zhao & Huang, 2022). Another study of green HRM activities carried out by organizations encourages employees to participate in innovation to develop green products and find new green operations processes to improve the environmental performance of companies (Rana & Arya, 2023). Green HRM also has a positive impact on innovation performance through green innovation (Bahmani et al, 2023). Overall, research evidence suggests that green HRM practices can lead to improved GIP, which in turn can lead to improved environmental performance.
H1: There is a direct relationship between GHRM and GIP.
GTL and GIP
The future and current trajectory of an organization depend on the influence of transformative leadership in active markets. If leaders have a strong belief in their vision, foster an innovative outlook, and communicate their perspectives to employees, the workforce will have strong faith. Green transformative leadership, as defined by Chen and Chang, encourages and motivates colleagues to achieve environmental goals that go beyond what is expected of them environmentally. Green performance can be defined as software and hardware performance in the innovation process that a company implements in its green initiatives, including technological innovations such as pollution prediction, energy conservation, waste recycling, and environmental management (Chen & Wu, 2022). GIP can be defined as new or advanced methods, processes, techniques, systems, and products for preventing or reducing environmental damage, encompassing pollution prevention policies, energy conservation, and the design of green products or configurations that facilitate environmental management in organizations and their waste recovery (Albort-Morant et al., 2017). Green innovation is a type of innovation that minimizes environmental impacts while achieving industrial environmental goals and providing environmental benefits (Wang, Cui & Zhao, 2021). It involves the use of alternative methods that lead to reduced environmental risks and pollution, improving environmental performance and creating value for both stakeholders and organizations (Raza, 2020). Research by Begum et al. (2022) shows that green transformative leadership strongly influences green innovation.
A study conducted in China found that green transformative leadership inspires and motivates followers through their actual participation in the work, which leads to sustainable business performance (Zhao & Huang, 2022). In a research Al-Ghazalet al et al (2022) found that GTL causes green innovation in employees. Also, Singh et al. (2020) found that GTL drives environmental performance. Overall, the research evidence suggests that GTL can lead to improved sustainable performance.
H2: There is a direct relationship between GTL and GIP
GTL and EB
GTL is a style of leadership that encourages followers to pursue environmental goals and motivates them to go above and beyond in their green performance and behavior (Chan et al., 2015). In other words, GTL may inspire employees to adopt GHRM practices, such as recruitment and selection, training and development, performance evaluation and management, compensation systems, and motivation to achieve organizational goals (Singh et al., 2020).
Employee EBs are known as behaviors exhibited by employees that contribute to reducing environmental harm or even benefiting the environment (Fatoki, 2019). Some researchers believe that EBs are somewhat unique and require individual interventions, and they are more prevalent in small segments of the population, such as those who evaluate the environment and possess environmental mindsets (Yan et al., 2023).
Studies indicate that GTL can promote the implementation of green behaviors among employees by creating a shared environmental vision among members (Liu & Yu, 2023). Additionally, GTL can influence employees' pro-EBand to foster a green organizational climate (Du & Yan, 2022). Furthermore, a study demonstrated that GTL can stimulate employees' environmental awareness and encourage them to exhibit more active EBs (Tiedtke et al, 2023). Overall, research evidence suggests that GTL can lead to improvements in EB.
H3: There is a direct relationship between GTL and EBs.
GHRM and EB
GHRM refers to the approaches of human resource management that aim to promote environmentally friendly use of resources, enhance overall environmental performance, and increase employees' awareness and commitment to environmental management (Tang et al., 2018). The success of environmental management in an organization depends on employees' environmentally compatible behavior, as their behavior improves the organization's environmental performance (Ali et al., 2022). Therefore, organizations need to consider how GHRM influences employees' environmentally compatible behavior (Kim et al., 2019).
EB in the workplace encompasses a wide range of actions that employees demonstrate at work, leading to the conservation of natural resources and the environment. Additionally, employees' EBs can be seen as a precautionary measure aimed at minimizing undesirable impacts on the environment (Ciocirlan, 2017). GHRM has a positive relationship with employees' EB(Chen & Wu, 2022).
Employees' green behavior includes energy conservation (e.g., turning off lights when leaving the office), efficient resource utilization (e.g., using teleconferencing or electronic means instead of traveling to meetings), waste reduction (e.g., electronically editing documents instead of printing them), recycling (e.g., printing drafts on scrap paper), and water conservation (e.g., reporting bathroom leaks and optimizing water usage) (Kotsopoulos et al., 2023; Zaid et al., 2018).
GHRM has a significant and positive impact on employees' EB and organizational environmental performance (Zaid et al., 2018). It increases employees' voluntary green efforts (Cabral & Jabbour, 2019). In the era of increasing awareness of environmental management and sustainable development, GHRM focuses on environmental management practices and enhances employees' environmentally compatible behaviors (Sing et al., 2020).
There is also evidence suggesting that there is no significant relationship between GHRM (GHRM) and employees' EBs. Fawehinmi et al. (2020) demonstrated that there is no direct relationship between GHRM and employees' EBs. Similarly, Shakil et al. (2023) found no significant relationship between GHRM and employees' EBs.
H4: There is a direct relationship between GHRM and EBs.
GHRM with EBs with the mediating role of EK
EK is evaluated based on one's cognitive abilities, commonly referred to as awareness (Geiger et al., 2019). Although it may differ from actual practical knowledge, it leads to the development of EB. EK refers to understanding the fragility of the environment and the importance of its conservation. Being aware of the environment entails understanding how human behavior impacts it and engaging in corrective actions. It is considered an essential aspect of successful implementation (Anwar et al., 2020). Employees with greater environmental awareness are more inclined towards green activities. As emphasized by UNESCO, the global increase in environmental issues is a result of individuals' lifestyles and development perspectives due to a lack of knowledge and appropriate attitudes towards environmental impacts. (It is also a fundamental assumption in environmental studies that many environmental problems can be addressed by increasing public knowledge and awareness of the environment) (Al-Rabaani & Al-Shuili, 2020). In other words, it is believed that environmental awareness is the key to solving many environmental problems and increasing EK enhances individuals' capabilities and independence in taking responsibility for environmental protection (Wu et al., 2022). The most effective way to strengthen community participation is by fostering a sense of responsibility in solving environmental problems (Al-Rabaani & Al-Shuili, 2020). In summary, increasing awareness and EK can reduce related issues and promote responsible and wise behavior toward the environment.
The importance of the alignment between GHRM and environmental management lies in the fact that this alignment, in a way, encourages employees to participate in environmental management initiatives through knowledge and attitude development (Hameed et al., 2023). Studies have shown that GHRM has a positive impact on EK (Wang et al., 2022). By promoting environmental conservation, education, and nurturing through the implementation of environmental policies, the selection of management strategies and performance, rewards, and participation, organizations enhance their EK and increase employee engagement in environmental protection, as well as their awareness of the importance and benefits of greening the workplace (Zhang et al., 2019). Farrukh et al. (2022) found a positive relationship between GHRM and EK, as well as between GTL and EK.
H5: GHRM indirectly influences EBs through the mediating role of EK.
GHRM with GIP with mediating role of EK
GTL is a powerful leadership approach that empowers, inspires, and motivates employees to surpass their performance objectives to make a positive impact on the environment (Du et al, 2022; Nguyen et al, 2023; Maitlo et al, 2022). This leadership style holds substantial influence on GIP, which involves the development and implementation of innovative ideas, products, or processes that promote environmental sustainability (He et al, 2023; Yi et al, 2023). The relationship between GTL and GIP is effectively facilitated by EK, which encompasses a deep understanding and awareness of environmental issues, principles, and responsible resource utilization (Chung et al, 2023; Wang et al, 2022; Clark et al, 2022).
By embracing GTL, organizations can greatly enhance their employees' EK, fostering a culture of environmental consciousness and sustainability (Ali et al, 2023; Zhang et al, 2023; Elshaer et al, 2023). This heightened EK, in turn, drives GIP, as employees who possess a profound understanding of environmental concerns are more likely to create and implement innovative solutions that advance environmental sustainability (Huu et al, 2023; Jin et al, 2022; Ait Sidhoum et al, 2022). Therefore, it becomes evident that GTL, EK, and GIP are closely interconnected, with EK playing a critical role as the link that mediates the relationship between GTL and GIP.
However, there is also evidence that suggests no significant relationship between GTL and GIP with the mediating role of EK. Sun et al. (2022) demonstrated that there is no significant relationship between GTL and GIP with the mediating role of EK. Al-Ghazali et al. (2022) found a significant relationship between GTL and green behaviors with the mediating role of employees' environmental attitudes, but the mediating role of EK in this relationship is not significant.
H6: There is an indirect relationship between GHRM and GIP with the mediating role of EK.
GTL with GIP with the mediating role of EK
GTL is a powerful leadership approach that empowers, evokes, and motivates personnel to surpass their performance targets to make a nice effect on the surroundings (Du et al, 2022; Nguyen et al, 2023; Maitlo et al, 2022). This management style holds great have an effect on on GIP, which includes the development and implementation of innovative thoughts, products, or tactics that sell environmental sustainability (He et al, 2023; Yi et al, 2023). The dating among GTL and GIP is effectively facilitated through EK, which encompasses a deep knowledge and recognition of environmental problems, standards, and responsible useful resource utilization (Chung et al, 2023; Wang et al, 2022; Clark et al, 2022).
By embracing GTL, groups can substantially enhance their employees' EK, fostering a subculture of environmental focus and sustainability (Ali et al, 2023; Zhang et al, 2023; Elshaer et al, 2023). This heightened EK, in turn, drives GIP, as employees who possess a profound expertise of environmental worries are much more likely to create and put into effect progressive solutions that enhance environmental sustainability (Huu et al, 2023; Jin et al, 2022; Ait Sidhoum et al, 2022). Therefore, it becomes evident that GTL, EK, and GIP are intently interconnected, with EK gambling a important position as the link that mediates the relationship between GTL and GIP.
However, there's also evidence that shows no huge courting between GTL and GIP with the mediating position of EK. Sun et al. (2022) validated that there is no full-size relationship among GTL and GIP with the mediating function of EK. Al-Ghazali et al. (2022) determined a sizable courting between GTL and green behaviors with the mediating position of personnel' environmental attitudes, but the mediating role of EK on this relationship is not significant.
H7: GTL indirectly influences GIP through the mediating role of EK.
GTL with EBs with the mediating role of EK
Imagine GTL as a superhero championing the cause of environmental conservation and sustainability (Liu et al., 2023; Sánchez-García et al., 2023). It goes beyond just leading a team; it involves inspiring and motivating team members to think innovatively and implement positive changes that benefit our planet, Mother Earth (Golos et al., 2023; Rosqvist et al., 2023). These leaders possess an unwavering commitment to sustainability and firmly believe in promoting eco-friendly practices (Hathi et al., 2023).
The impact of GTL on EBs is more complex than it initially appears. Emerging research suggests that possessing a solid understanding of EK and awareness of issues and solutions plays a fundamental role in this relationship (Wassihun et al., 2022). When employees are well-informed, they are more inclined to take action and make environmentally conscious choices (Du et al., 2022).
Therefore, green transformational leaders not only ignite motivation but also strive to enhance their team's EK (Liu et al., 2023). By doing so, they increase the likelihood of their employees adopting environmentally responsible behaviors (Ye et al., 2022). In essence, the effectiveness of GTL in promoting environmental actions depends greatly on the team's level of awareness and understanding of the prevailing environmental challenges.
However, many studies have confirmed contrary relationships. For example, in a study by Liu and Yu (2023), they found a significant relationship between GTL and employees' organizational citizenship behaviors for the environment, with the mediating role of social information processing. However, the mediating role of EK in this relationship was not significant. Furthermore, Du & Yan (2022) demonstrated a significant relationship between GTL and employees' responsibility acceptance behaviors, with the mediating role of personal initiative and the stimulating role of organizational green identity. However, the mediating role of EK in this relationship was not significant.
H8: There is an indirect relationship between GTL and EBs with the mediating role of EK.
This research holds sizeable significance for several reasons. Firstly, number one faculty instructors play a vital position in shaping the environmental consciousness and behaviors of young students. Hence, it's far imperative to recognize the factors that have an effect on their EBs. Secondly, the implementation of GHRM practices and green transformative management may have a terrific impact at the EBs and innovation performance of instructors. Lastly, it's miles anticipated that EK will function a mediator within the relationship among those practices and behaviors. This emphasizes the want to investigate the mediating position of EK. Through this research, precious insights may be gained on how to sell environmentally accountable behaviors and foster inexperienced innovation amongst primary school teachers, ultimately contributing to a extra sustainable destiny. Therefore, considering the variables of the have a look at, the conceptual model has been formulated as follows.